The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- Oregon
- Level
- Court
- Authority
- ORS 401.165, 401.168(1); ORS 433.441(3); Elkhorn Baptist Church v. Brown, 366 Or 506, 524-27 (2020) (Ex. SEC-16-031); Executive Order 20-66 paras. 2, 10(c) (Ex. OR-035); OAR 845-006-0345(15)-(16); ORS 471.333(3); ORS 183.417(4)
- Issued
- 2023-04-19 Apr. 19, 2023
- Effective
- 2023-04-19 (decision); the conduct adjudicated occurred Jan. 4-Feb. 20, 2021 (read as 2023-04-19)
- End
- final
- In force
- Apr. 19, 2023 (no end date recorded; counted as in force for 120 days)
- Quarters
- 2021 Q1
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Business closureCapacity limitFace-covering requirementOther
- Addressees
- specified businesses: OLCC licensees (eating and drinking establishments); the Governor's powers described reach every facility and premises
- Character
- adjudication
- Collection
- Standing duties: Oregon DUT-OR
Operative words
And the Governor may implement any action authorized by ORS 433.441 to 433.452.... That includes closing facilities, regulating goods and services, and controlling or limiting "entry into, exit from, movement within and the occupancy of premises in any public area subject to or threatened by a public health emergency," as reasonably necessary to respond to the emergency. ORS 433.441(3).
Penalty
38-day license suspension by default order affirmed; immediate suspension for 'a serious danger to public health and safety' (ORS 471.315; OAR 845-006-0345(15)-(16)).
What it required
Recited that in the COVID-19 emergency the Governor held 'all police powers vested in the state by the Oregon Constitution' (ORS 401.168(1)), the 'power to enact reasonable regulations for the protection of "the public health and the public safety"' (quoting Elkhorn Baptist Church and Jacobson v. Massachusetts) and every action authorized by ORS 433.441-433.452, that EO 20-66 'ordered OHA to issue binding guidance on safety measures, operational limitations, and capacity limits for eating and drinking establishments... which became part of EO 20-66' and directed OLCC and other agencies to enforce it 'under existing civil and administrative authorities,' and affirmed OLCC's suspension of a licensee that had allowed indoor on-premises consumption, had not enforced mask requirements or six-foot distancing and had not placed plexiglass shields, after an immediate suspension issued 'because continued operation of your premises represents a serious danger to public health and safety.' Character as recorded: adjudication (order_penalty layer).
Retrieval noteOfficial slip opinion from the Oregon Judicial Department's digital collection (ContentDM item 35265) with Oregon Reports pagination; the quoted passage is at 328-29 and the OLCC suspension order at 329-30. The licensee's argument that it had been sanctioned 'for maintaining an insanitary establishment in violation of public health laws' (ORS 471.333(3)) was rejected because OLCC proceeded under its own rules, which shows the two parallel vehicles (public health law and license code) that reached eating and drinking establishments.